Iranian UAV that infiltrated the Israeli airspace is shot down by an AH-64 Apache. Then, Israeli Air Force jets launch retaliatory air strikes in Syria. An F-16I is hit and crashes in northern Israel. Two pilots eject, one is seriously injured.
“On February 10, 2018, an Apache helicopter successfully intercepted an Iranian UAV that was launched from Syria and infiltrated Israel. The aircraft was identified by the Aerial Defense Systems early on and was under surveillance until the interception. In response, IDF attacked the Iranian aircraft’s launch components in Syrian territory,” says an Israeli Defense Force release.
Here’s the footage of the downing of the drone:
Original footage showing #Iranian UAV infiltrating and then shot down over Israel, and #IDF strike on Iranian command vehicle in #Syria pic.twitter.com/Sz6poAOdjc
— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) February 10, 2018
Based on the footage, the UAV shot down by the AH-64 seems to be a Saeqeh (Thunderbolt), one of those unveiled by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in 2016 and seemingly based on the captured U.S. RQ-170 stealth drone (H/T to Michael Cruickshank for IDing the drone).
Still, what happened later is possibly more important:
“Later, also in response to the Iranian UAV that was launched at Israeli territory and was intercepted by the IDF, Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft targeted 12 targets in Syria, including three aerial defense batteries and four Iranian targets that are part of Iran’s military establishment in Syria. During the attack, multiple anti-aircraft missiles were fired at IAF aircraft. The two pilots of an F-16 ejected from the aircraft as per procedure, one of whom was seriously injured and taken to the hospital for medical treatment.”
According to the first reports the F-16 was a Sufa and several SA-5 and SA-17 were launched at the Israeli jets, but there is no official confirmation. Actually the wording used by the IDF is worth of note: they don’t even explicitly say that the aircraft was “hit”, even though it seems pretty obvious. Interestingly, the Israeli military clearly stated the SAM fired at the Israeli Sufa was definitely Syrian:
Israeli military sources are insisting that the missiles fired against IAF aircraft which shot down an F-16I was “definitely Syrian.” At this point looks like they are trying to contain fallout and make clear that Russian forces weren’t involved.
— Anshel Pfeffer (@AnshelPfeffer) February 10, 2018
Civilian air traffic suffered some disruption as Syrian missiles were fired in the northern part of the country:
All https://t.co/pDvypXT1Co Israel holding over med, as Antiaircraft missiles fly.over syria/israel following downing of israeli f16 + iranian drone.. see pt’s@planesonthenet @cencio4 @AnshelPfeffer pic.twitter.com/CKPdQVPKE1
— avi scharf (@avischarf) February 10, 2018
Tel Aviv Ben Gurion opened to arrivals about 30 minutes later. Here’s one of the aircraft coming to landing after holding to the northwest of the airport:
TLV re-opened for arr/dep, after being closed due to AA missiles launched from Syria, and fear of poss debris@planesonthenet @cencio4 @AnshelPfeffer pic.twitter.com/HR7N9og6Zf
— avi scharf (@avischarf) February 10, 2018
There have been several Israeli air strikes in Syria in the last decades during those the Israeli combat aircraft have proved their ability to operate freely in the Syrian airspace. Reportedly, in spite of several raids, including some pretty famous operations, the last time an Israeli Air Force jet was shot down dates back to the first Lebanon War at the beginning of the ’80s.
H/T @avischarf @MJ_Cruickshank @AbraxasSpa for details and hints.
Top image credit: IDF
